Here's a suggestion or two for whatever they're worth. And this isn't for trolls or those who come searching and seeking .
It's for those of us who say we've been born again and claim that we've chosen to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.
First off what I see is that we're not seeing ourselves as servants. Jesus said that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all - all! And after teaching them this, He gives them a video to watch. Jesus washes their dirty, stinky feet.
It bothered Peter so much that the God of the universe would stoop down and wash their feet. Peter knew he was filthy dirty with the stain of sin and asked Jesus to wash all of him, not just his feet. I love Peter!
And then Jesus told them that they he would have no part in His ministry if he didn't allow Jesus to wash His feet.
The lesson for the 12 was to stay humble. They would be chosen as apostles for the church, so they'd be the top dog so to speak. But Jesus said that a servant isn't above his master.
We have Jesus lowering Himself to such a menial task and He's Lord of Lords and King of Kings - He left an example for his disciples to follow. They are not to think too highly of themselves in their position of apostle. They are to see themselves as foot washers. As servants. And not just servants of the rich or their friends, but they are servants of all, even the leper.
So I really do believe that this might be something we all can work on - to be servants of all. Not to think of ourselves as higher than anyone. Not even if we're right and someone else is wrong.
If the other is wrong in their teaching, we need to humble ourselves as their servant to either reword what we've already said, or to leave the truth with them and allow the Holy Spirit to convict them - or even to confirm what they've said because we might be the one in the wrong. But if we're right, we can let it reaffirm the truth in our heart, but we can still love the other person, hoping he/she might come to the knowledge of the truth.
A servant stays humble. The truth in love tastes much sweeter. Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
And then when we mess up and respond in hate or when we belittle others, call names, etc. lets be quick to ask for forgiveness. That kind of heart needs to always be a part of our character. Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
One thing that really bothers me are things like the Calvin love-in thread or whatever it's called. It might not be offensive to others and maybe it's just me. But I think it causes division, even if there was no intent to do so. And in one of the photo threads there were photos that depicted denominations either in a bad light or a good light as if one is better than the other.
It can all be in fun at first, but it's not really and feelings get hurt and before you know it, it's the same as the Calvinism love-in where you're causing separation rather than unity.
It makes me think of Paul's exhortation to those who claimed to be of Paul, of Apollos or Cephas, etc. He asked, "Is Christ divided?" And the answer is of course not.
For those who said we need better moderation, Amen! Because - If we need church discipline, we also need discipline here. I always thought that the moderators had a lot of patience with what's been going on and couldn't understand why there wasn't someone stopping what was going on. And now I understand that there aren't enough moderators.
I don't want anyone to think I'm being harsh or condemning because I'm not. I'm just trying to think of ways we might be able to make things more pleasant around here where we'll want to join in fellowship and respond more in the threads.
Many of us do already avoid so many of the threads. Discussion is great, so is disagreement. We can learn from one another, but with all the negativism going on, it turns my stomach sour literally. It causes me to want to leave and not come back.
I'm fairly new here and I'm so happy to be here. There are a lot of great and wonderful people here, but there's also some pretty snarky people here as well. We all have room for improvement. None of us are perfect.
So I say let's press on and get to know the Lord better and become more like Him in all we do. Let's do all to the glory of God. And let's give the benefit of the doubt and not be quick to think the worse. Let's take time to gather our thoughts before we type and pray.
Let's ask God to help us if we feel that rising tension build and race throughout your body. That right there can be a clue for us that we are about to react emotionally. We might need to wait until we can answer in love, in humbleness of spirit and in grace with lots of mercy.
We don't want to be judged harshly ourselves and we have the exhortation that with the same measure we judge others, God will judge us in that same measure. We need to look at God's looking glass so that we can see if we have a tooth pick or a log in our eye. They both need to be removed before we can respond correctly and in love.
I don't think the answer is to close the Bible thread. It's time for us to grow up in Him to maturity. In Christ all things are possible, even those things that seem impossible. The more one begins to react it love, it encourages others to do so as well. Like one raindrop and then another and before you know it we'll have a nice showering of love in the rooms here.
Love never fails...............
It's for those of us who say we've been born again and claim that we've chosen to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.
First off what I see is that we're not seeing ourselves as servants. Jesus said that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all - all! And after teaching them this, He gives them a video to watch. Jesus washes their dirty, stinky feet.
It bothered Peter so much that the God of the universe would stoop down and wash their feet. Peter knew he was filthy dirty with the stain of sin and asked Jesus to wash all of him, not just his feet. I love Peter!
And then Jesus told them that they he would have no part in His ministry if he didn't allow Jesus to wash His feet.
The lesson for the 12 was to stay humble. They would be chosen as apostles for the church, so they'd be the top dog so to speak. But Jesus said that a servant isn't above his master.
We have Jesus lowering Himself to such a menial task and He's Lord of Lords and King of Kings - He left an example for his disciples to follow. They are not to think too highly of themselves in their position of apostle. They are to see themselves as foot washers. As servants. And not just servants of the rich or their friends, but they are servants of all, even the leper.
So I really do believe that this might be something we all can work on - to be servants of all. Not to think of ourselves as higher than anyone. Not even if we're right and someone else is wrong.
If the other is wrong in their teaching, we need to humble ourselves as their servant to either reword what we've already said, or to leave the truth with them and allow the Holy Spirit to convict them - or even to confirm what they've said because we might be the one in the wrong. But if we're right, we can let it reaffirm the truth in our heart, but we can still love the other person, hoping he/she might come to the knowledge of the truth.
A servant stays humble. The truth in love tastes much sweeter.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.And then when we mess up and respond in hate or when we belittle others, call names, etc. lets be quick to ask for forgiveness. That kind of heart needs to always be a part of our character. Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
One thing that really bothers me are things like the Calvin love-in thread or whatever it's called. It might not be offensive to others and maybe it's just me. But I think it causes division, even if there was no intent to do so. And in one of the photo threads there were photos that depicted denominations either in a bad light or a good light as if one is better than the other.
It can all be in fun at first, but it's not really and feelings get hurt and before you know it, it's the same as the Calvinism love-in where you're causing separation rather than unity.
It makes me think of Paul's exhortation to those who claimed to be of Paul, of Apollos or Cephas, etc. He asked, "Is Christ divided?" And the answer is of course not.
For those who said we need better moderation, Amen! Because - If we need church discipline, we also need discipline here. I always thought that the moderators had a lot of patience with what's been going on and couldn't understand why there wasn't someone stopping what was going on. And now I understand that there aren't enough moderators.
I don't want anyone to think I'm being harsh or condemning because I'm not. I'm just trying to think of ways we might be able to make things more pleasant around here where we'll want to join in fellowship and respond more in the threads.
Many of us do already avoid so many of the threads. Discussion is great, so is disagreement. We can learn from one another, but with all the negativism going on, it turns my stomach sour literally. It causes me to want to leave and not come back.
I'm fairly new here and I'm so happy to be here. There are a lot of great and wonderful people here, but there's also some pretty snarky people here as well. We all have room for improvement. None of us are perfect.
So I say let's press on and get to know the Lord better and become more like Him in all we do. Let's do all to the glory of God. And let's give the benefit of the doubt and not be quick to think the worse. Let's take time to gather our thoughts before we type and pray.
Let's ask God to help us if we feel that rising tension build and race throughout your body. That right there can be a clue for us that we are about to react emotionally.
We might need to wait until we can answer in love, in humbleness of spirit and in grace with lots of mercy. We don't want to be judged harshly ourselves and we have the exhortation that with the same measure we judge others, God will judge us in that same measure. We need to look at God's looking glass so that we can see if we have a tooth pick or a log in our eye. They both need to be removed before we can respond correctly and in love.
I don't think the answer is to close the Bible thread. It's time for us to grow up in Him to maturity. In Christ all things are possible, even those things that seem impossible. The more one begins to react it love, it encourages others to do so as well. Like one raindrop and then another and before you know it we'll have a nice showering of love in the rooms here.
Love never fails...............
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